Wedge key



Patented June 19, 1934 UNITED STATES WEDGE KEY Seth A. Grone, EastOrange,

N. Jr, assignor to Buffalo Brake Beam Company, New-York, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application April s, 1933, seria; No. 664,243'

5 Claims.

'This invention relates to aspecial construction of keys, such as isadapted to be used for readily connecting members together by the use ofa relatively slight blow on one end of the key to drive it through anaperture in a connecting bolt which is resiliently cushioned, the keybeing specially constructed to wedge the bolt outwardly from theconnected members and to allow the bolt to be locked by the key when itis fully driven into the bolt.

In addition to such object the improved key is adapted to be readilyreleased from. the bolt by a relatively slight force which serves toslightly compress the resilient cushioning means, to allow the key to bewithdrawn.

A further object of the invention is to provide a key which may bereadily driven home or released by the use of suitable force, or byrelatively slight blows respectively against opposite ends of the key,and to avoid the necessity of using heavy sledges conveniently nd accessto the key for imparting a blow, while at the same time the improved keyacts efficiently in all respects and holds the connected memberstogether in such, way that they will not rattle and cause noises,especially when the connected members constitute parts of a structure,which is in rapid motion, as, for example, a railway car truck.

A further Objectis to provide a wedge key at a reasonable cost, which isdurable and practical and is efficient when in use,

These being among the objects of the present invention, the sameconsists of certain features 35 of construction and combinations ofparts to be hereinafter described and then claimed with reference to theaccompanying drawing illustrating a desirable embodiment of theinvention and wherein I4:5 to connect certain members of the trucktogether;

and

Fig. 3 is a similar View showing the improved key in locking position.

In the drawing the improved key is shown as 50 relatively thin and flatat opposite surfaces, al-

though it will be obvious herefrom that the key may be made of anydesired cross-section, depending upon the use to which it is to be put,The key as shown is elongated andhas a body 55 portion 5 which ispreferably terminated by a or hammers, which cannot Fig. l is aperspective view of such an improved head 6 which extends. laterallythereof. Omi. longitudinalrside or edge of the key-body 5 is providedwth a relatively long notch or.- recess 7, which extends to about themiddle vof the key, while the opposite side or edge of the key is formedwith incline rwhich-is relatively offset., with respect to the notch 7,so that beyond the body 5 the key isprovided with a wedge-shapedrportion 9 which is preferably straight on the side or edge just beyondthe notch 7.

T hat wall of the notch 7 which is nearest to the wedge-shaped portionis inclinedl from the bottomofV the notchr towardsgthe wedge-shapedlportion, so that; an inclined shoulder 10 is provided at this point.It-Will be noticed that the inclined shoulder` 10 is slightly in advanceor the. incline 8 of the key, such incline extending for substantiallyone-half of kthe length of the key," While the notch 7-is in the otherhalfofthe key.. That end wall of the notch 7 which deiines the head 6 isor may be formed square so astopro.- vide a square shoulder 11,. v

VPreferably, the wedge-shaped portion isformed with a slit at 12 orotherwise constructed, ofl suitable bendable metal, to bifurcate thekey. This will enable the bifurcated portions Y1li at opposite sides ofthe slit orv split 12 to be bent in opposite directions so as to act toymore securely retain the key in position. At opposite sides of the slitor split 12 the terminals of the wedge-shaped portion vformed by thebifurcations are provided with beveled surfaces 13,"1-3a,. extendingcross-wise ofy the key, vthese 4bevels converging at` the` slit or split12, to preferablyI provide a V-shaped recess. These bevels 13, 13aenable the point of a cold chisel,Y for example, to be inserted betweenthe terminals of the bifurcated portions,` at opposite sides of the slit12, with a view tovvfacilitating the introduction of the chiselinto theslit, for bending the bifurcations away fromeach other. It will beobvious that the shoulder 11 of the notch 7 not necessarily square, forif it is slightly rounded oir it will facilitate its engagement by thepoint of a cold chisel, for example, with a viewv to draw the key. Y InFigs. 2 and 3 the key is shown for connecting members of a car-trucktogether, for example, as more specically shown and described incoi-pending application Serial No. 633,067, filed September 14, 1932, ofwhich the present application is a partial continuation and a division.In said figures a portion of a car-truck member 15 is illustrated,together with a bracket 16 which depends therefrom, such bracket beingprovided with a foot portion 17. The bracket is apertured so that asafety bar 18 may pass therethrough and rest upon the foot portion 17,such safety bars being usually employed in car trucks to serve as anemergency support Vfor a brake beam in case it fails and drops. Throughholes in the safety bar 18 and the foot 17, or through holes in othermembers to be connected, a bolt 19 is passed, such bolt being preferablyprovided with an integral head 20 located above the safety bar. The bolt19 has a through slot 21 which extends in a plane coincident with thelongitudinal axis of the bolt, such slotbeing narrowed to slightly morethan the thickness of the improvedwedge key, if the same be made thinand flat as illustrated in Fig. 1. Resilient means 22 in the form of asplit washer having a single convolution is preferably placed under thehead 20 of the' bolt. A

Fig. 2 illustrates how the improved wedge key acts in applying it to thebolt 19, where the wedge po'i'ton 9 of the key is shown as bearingdirectlylupon the foot 17 or other member to which the bolt is applied.The small end of the wedge of' the key is iirst 'inserted into the slot21 of the bolt, the key being placed in inclined position, With `theinclined edge portion 8 presented towards the foot 17. The helicalspring or washer 22 is placed under tension as soon as a slight blow onthe head 6 of the key has driven it into the slot 21 for alittledistance, and as the key is further driven in, the spring 22 is stillmore compressed, so that when the key is driven in far enough so as toregister the notch 7 with the unslotted end portion of the bolt, suchendV portion snaps into the notch so as to interlock with the key, thespring 22 being then somewhat relieved of pressure and taking theposition approximately as shown in Fig. 3.

Inasmuch as the key is of greater Width transverselyof the notch 7 thanit is at the outer terminal of its wedge-shaped portion, the spring 22is held under considerable pressure, in the position shown in Fig. 3,and the strong tension of the compressed spring acting between themember or safety bar 18 and the head 2) of the bolt, binds such memberto the member or foot portion 17 and insures a reliable locking togetheri ofj the key and the bolt. Thus the connected truck or other memberswill be strongly held together, allowing a very slight easing movementof the members, but so holding the members together as well as theattaching means, that no rattling of the assembled elements can takeplace and no vibration which Would cause disastrous wear or ultimateWear of the parts.- The key when used in such connections tends toeliminate all Wear; at least it materially extends the life of theassembled and connected elements. In this connection it may be statedthat continued vibration of such members connected by the improved keyhas been demonstrated in a test machine for at least approximately tWothousand hours with no visible wear and no trouble encountered.

Referring to the beveled surfaces I3, 13a at the smaller end of the key,it will be seen that they facilitate the spreading apart of thebifurcations 14, so that bolt may be more reliably held in position.When the key is in locking position as shown in Fig. 3 a suitable blowon the smaller end of the key will facilitate its removal from the bolt,for at the same time the inclined shoulder 10 acts upon the outer end ofthe bolt to compress the spring 22, or, as is preferably done, the pointof a cold chisel or the like may be inserted between the bolt and theshoulder l1 and the key withdrawn by exerting the n leverage thereof.

It is obvious that the invention herein disclosed is susceptible tomodification without departing from the scope of the claims, one obviousmodication being to construct such a flat key of two correspondinglengths and shapes of flat sheet steel, which are connected together atthe head end or" theY key by means of a suitable rivet.

1. A wedge-key, comprising an elongated body which is inclined at onevside along a portion of its length to provide a wedge-portion at oneend or" the key, and the body having a longitudinal notch in its otherend, extending along that side of the body opposite to the incline, thenotch eX- tending approximately as far as the inner end of thewedgeportion.

2. A Wedge-key, comprising an elongated body which is inclined at oneside along a portion of its length to provide a wedge-portion at one endof the key, and the body having a longitudinal notch in its other end,extending along that side of the body oppositeto the incline, that wallof the notch nearest the Wedge-portion being inclined from the bottom ofthe notch outwardly toward the wedge-portion.

3. A wedge-key, comprising an elongated body -'lf provided with awedgeshaped end, and the body having a longitudinal notch in its otherend, that Wall of thernotch nearestthe Wedge-shaped end being inclinedfrom the bottom of the notch outwardly toward the wedge-shaped end.

e. A wedge-key, comprising a relatively thin and flat body with a headat one end, one edge of the key being inclined forr a portion of itslength to provide a wedge-portion at the other end of Ythe key, and thekey having a longitudinal notch in its other edge extendingsubstantially the distance between the head and the v wedgeportion- Y 5.A wedge-key, comprising a relatively thin*l and iiat body with a head atone end, one edge lll@

